Today's Stats:

Brunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1315     Reading:  123

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1412     BP:  147/70     Pulse:  65

Breakfast:  1435  & Meds What she ate:  2 hard over eggs, heavily peppered 4 oz sugar cured ham steak 1 slice toasted oat bran bread with 1 tbl Fleischmann's margarine 1/4 tsp cinnamon on bread 8 oz orange juice diluted w/8 oz water
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
Niferex-150 [150 mg elemental iron]	1 hour before breakfast	to pull her out of what I hope is her temporarily severely anemic state
vitamin C/500 mg	with Niferex-150	helps the body metabolize iron
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast and pre-dinner med
Protonix/40 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast med
Albuterol/2.0+IPRAO/.5	nebulized during meal preparation	standard breakfast, sometimes dinner med
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 tab with meal	almost didn't give it to her because pressure was low; will check blood pressure at lunch to see how she's doing
metformin/425 mg	1/2 of 850 mg tab with meal	I'm not sure, at all, how to medicate her with metformin, right now, so I flipped a mental coin and it came up "425"
Daily Senior Multivitamin	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
folic acid/400 mcg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
vitamin E/400 IU	with meal	standard breakfast supplement
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	standard breakfast supplement
1/4 cup pure cranberry juice w/12 oz water	after breakfast	standard after breakfast supplement

Conspicuously Absent Meds & Supplements
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
aspirin/81 mg	1 tab with breakfast	Has not been receiving this, per doctor's orders, since 6/18/04; he feels that, if she is bleeding internally intermittently, the aspirin, being a blood thinner, will increase the blood flow, and this is a higher risk to take, right now, than protecting her against strokes, including mini-strokes

    Two interruptions, starting at 1155, sidetracked my determination to awaken my mother at noon, as you can see; details will be reported, later, at The Mom & Me Journals dot Net. We'll probably only have two meals, today. Once again, her blood pressure looks like it's coming back into line, but, well, I'm waiting for a trend, as I am with her blood glucose.
    We'll probably only have two meals, today; what I'm now calling brunch and dinner. She's already requested deviled eggs, so we'll probably have Cobb salad and deviled eggs.
    By the way, within the next few days, maybe today, I'll be starting a new journal about my mother, food and drink, and me. It will include musings about feeding an Ancient One, recipes, tips, you know, the usual stuff, personalized to Mom & Me. I've been meaning to do this; now, I think, is the time.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1934     Reading:  78

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2014     BP:  133/56     Pulse:  56

Dinner:  2015  & Meds What she ate:  Cobb salad, made much like the last one she had, except without pastrami, with approx 1.5 oz chopped gold bell pepper one egg, boiled and deviled
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast and dinner pre-med
metformin/425 mg	1/2 a 850 mg tab with meal	standard dinner med
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	standard breakfast supplement

Conspicuously Absent Meds & Supplements
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
36 mg Iron Protein Succinylate	2 18 mg tabs 1 hour before meal	decided, since she hadn't been up much, today, it was too early for her to receive iron again, today
vitamin C/500 mg	with iron supplement	same as above
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 tab with meal	no need, tonight...her blood pressure is finally beginning to look normal

    Nothing unusual tonight except that this was the last of only two meals she'll receive today. She's already beginning to look as though she'll be heading for bed, soon. About 1730 I decided to offer her 11.5 oz V-8 juice with cinnamon. I knew she wouldn't be interested in lunch, since she finished breakfast at 1515, but I also remembered the blood glucose drop, yesterday, before lunch, and wanted to prevent that happening, tonight, before dinner. I figured the between meal V-8 juice would do the trick, and it did.
    I probably could have given her lisinopril tonight, considering her systolic pressure, but decided against it, considering her diastolic. At any rate, she had a dose at breakfast and I figured that would take care of her need for it.
    I also decided to give her garlic in the evenings, for awhile, just to keep her body on guard against recurring infection.
    Although I've been concerned that she might be a little anemic since her urinary tract bleed, she developed a maroon line around her lips today, which is a general indication of too much supplemental iron (which can happen even if someone is anemic). I knew she wouldn't be up much, today, even without taking a nap, so I decided I'd put off giving her iron. If she remains up until 2130, I'll give her the second dose before she goes to bed but, if she doesn't, we have plenty of time to make it up, if she needs it, tomorrow and over the weekend.